Dehradun, Nov 13 (PTI) Middle-order batters Mahipal Lomror and Kartik Sharma struck unbeaten hundreds, punctuating their knocks with 11 sixes to power Rajasthan to 362 for four against hosts Uttarakhand on the first day of their Group B Ranji Trophy match here on Wednesday.
Invited to bat, Rajasthan were off to a steady start but soon found themselves in trouble after sipping to 188 for four in the second session.
Having seen three batters walk back to the dressing room after getting their eye in, Lomror stitched an excellent partnership of 174 runs for the fifth wicket to steer the visiting side to a comfortable position.
Among the batters to have failed on the day was Rajasthan skipper Deepak Hooda (10 off 29 balls), who was caught behind off the bowling of Deepak Dhapola, signaling the arrival of Sharma into the crease.
Uttarakhand did not taste any success thereafter as Rajasthan completely dominated the final session of play with the duo of Lomror and Sharma in total control of the proceedings in the elite group game.
At the close of play, Lomror was batting on 141 off 189 balls while Sharma was going strong on 113 off 114 deliveries, having scored at almost run-a-ball.
During his stay in the middle, Lomror found the fence 14 times and cleared it on five occasions, while Sharma entertained those present at the ground by smashing 11 fours and six sixes.
Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand's decision to field first did not bring them great returns as Rajasthan reached 100 for the loss of just one wicket in Abhijeet Tomar (20).
Ram Chouhan (29) fell with the score reading 106 but still the visitors did not have enough reasons to worry.
However, losing two more wickets, including that of their skipper, with the team score yet to cross 200, put Rajasthan in a spot of bother. In between, Zubair Ali made 26 in 40 balls, getting dismissed after settling down.
That's when Sharma joined Lomror in the middle, and the two first steadied the ship and then placed their team ahead with their dominant batting display.
The big, undefeated partnership between Lomror and Sharma helped Rajasthan take honours on the first day.
For Uttarakhand, there was a wicket each for Dhapola, Abhay Negi, Avneesh Sudha and Swapnil Singh, as stumps were drawn with eight overs still to be bowled due to bad light.
Brief scores:
In Dehradun: Rajasthan 1st innings 362/4 in 82 overs (Mahipal Lomror batting 141, Kartik Sharma batting 113) vs Uttarakhand.
In Nagpur: Gujarat 1st innings 281/6 in 86 overs (Vishal Jayswal batting 110, Priyank Panchal 88; Praful Hinge 3/53) vs Vidarbha.
In Dharamsala: Puducherry 1st innings 85 all out in 35 overs (Mukul Negi 3/8, Vinay Galetiya 3/24, Vaibhav Arora 2/16) vs Himachal Pradesh 1st innings 147/2 in 41 overs (Shubham Arora 58).
In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 1st innings 244/5 in 90 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 124; Tripurana Vijay 3/85) vs Andhra.